Both supporters and opponents of a liveable neighbourhood scheme in east Bristol have been frustrated by a pause in its roll-out. The scheme has only been partly installed so far, and Bristol City Council has been “forced to pause” its installation due to protesters blocking contractors.
The controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood aims to reduce traffic through St George, Redfield and Barton Hill, with bollards, planters and bus gates. But the plans have split opinion among locals, and both sides expressed dismay at the recent pause.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a supporter urged the council and critics of the trial to let the full scheme bed in; while an opponent claimed there was “no need” for the trial and warned protests would continue whenever the contractors next return to the area.
Luke Hall lives on Church Road and is in favour of the scheme, praising how the area has become nicer to walk and cycle through since the first measures were installed late last year. But they have also already thrown up some unwanted side effects.
“Overall I’m a big fan,” he said. “Something needs to be done about air quality, road safety and traffic, and this is a perfect opportunity to do that. I would love to see the rest of the scheme go in so that we can then assess it on the benefits, rather than the worries about it. I get that people are concerned, a lot of the concerns are valid, and it’s tricky to explain how it might work.
“But once it’s in and people get used to it, you will start seeing the benefits. That’s been the case in the majority of other schemes that have gone in. I’m hopeful that once the scheme is in place, people give it a bit of time, behaviours do change, we start seeing the benefits more broadly, not just in the St George area.”
Beaufort Road runs parallel to Church Road through St George, and used to be plagued by rat-runners, with frequent speeding and even crashes. But now the road is much quieter and nicer to walk or cycle through — apart from the many cars which now line the pavement.
“It’s nice that it’s a trial because there are some things that are not great,” Mr Hall said, “like pavement parking. There could be some sections where the double yellow lines are extended so getting round the corners is easier.”
Before the roll out began, the council did change some of its plans, Mr Hall said. This includes relocating planters, cycle hangars and parking spaces, after feedback from locals. He admitted that traffic and congestion “would get worse” in the short term, before drivers change behaviour.
He added: “For the scheme as a whole, the larger behaviour change that it’s intended to cause requires that the entire scheme is in place and bedded down for those effects to take place. And traffic does get worse before it gets better. When people see that the journeys are less ideal, it takes longer, they have to take a different route, then they will make those adjustments.
“I’m hopeful that a lot of people will think ‘actually it’s so much nicer now’ and that the slightly longer journey times are a good trade-off for not breathing in fumes every time I step outside my house, not worrying about having to hold my kid’s hand every time I leave so they don’t get bothered by a car mounting the pavement or driving too fast in a 20mph zone.”
Mr Hall downplayed the negative effects on people in the area, and said fewer people driving would reduce Bristol’s contribution to climate change, as well as tackle air pollution. A third of the city’s carbon dioxide emissions are caused by drivers, according to government data.
He said: “There’s no policy that any government or council will introduce that will benefit absolutely everybody in their area. It’s unfortunate that some people will be negatively affected. Most people won’t notice much of a difference.
“The world is slowly either burning, freezing, flooding or experiencing droughts. There is a climate emergency. On the global scale, everybody needs to be doing what they can to make a difference — if that’s fewer car journeys, then great. But also locally, it was unpleasant on Beaufort Road, and still is on bits of Avonvale Road and Victoria Avenue.
“People die in Bristol every year because of [air pollution]. The number of vehicles has been growing and continues to grow every year. The streets aren’t getting any wider.”
The installation of the measures began in October and were due to end this month. Some of the measures have gone in already, particularly in the St George end of the area. But other parts of the area remain unchanged and it’s unclear how the council plans to manage the protesters.
“I’m waiting with bated breath to see what happens when the scheme gets put in,” Mr Hall said. “It’s something like £20,000 worth of costs associated with the delays. So it’s a bit of a shame, but I’d like to see the whole scheme put in place, and then we can judge it on how it actually affects people in the area.”
Katie Sullivan lives off Victoria Avenue in Redfield, where bollards and planters are planned. The wide avenue acts as a main route through the neighbourhood, particularly for larger vehicles which would otherwise struggle to navigate the narrow side roads connecting to Church Road. But she says there is no traffic problem on Victoria Avenue, and no need for the changes.
She said: “People who aren’t familiar with the streets, like delivery drivers, removal vans, scaffolding lorries, anything like that, they’re going to really struggle and they won’t have any way of exiting. The second somebody has got stuck, everyone else is stuck because there’ll only be the one way in and out.
“Why this needs a permanent blockage, I have got absolutely no idea. Nobody is rat-running down Victoria Avenue, at all.”
With the planned closures, she estimates her journey home would take an extra 40 minutes during busy traffic, particularly with arduous queues on Blackswarth Road to get onto Church Road. Some locals have urged the council to consider changing how the traffic lights at that junction operate, but Ms Sullivan says they have not listened to suggestions.
She said: “The second anybody wants to turn right, which a lot of the traffic does, nobody else can go through the junction. As a result, very few people get through on each light change. Even if they changed it so that Chalks Road went by itself and Blackswarth Road went by itself, it would flow. But it doesn’t, they come against each other the whole time.”
Both the council and supporters of the scheme are hoping that many residents change their travel behaviour, driving less and instead walking, cycling or getting the bus. But for many people in the area, particularly elderly and disabled people, those options are unrealistic.
Ms Sullivan said: “I use the buses to go into town as I don’t believe in using the car locally. I have a permanent injury and so I’m slightly disabled and I’m in pain a lot of the time. Things like going to Sainsbury’s, if you’re buying a weekly shop, you’re not carrying that back. The other place I go is to St Brendan’s [sixth form college east of Brislington ], as my son is at school there.
“He’s a music student, he’s got a guitar and an amp, and so he can’t get up there easily. There’s no bus, there used to be a bus but they took that route away. There’s no other option but to take him in the car. It’s about an hour one way walking. It’s not feasible, if you’ve got heavy gear.”
Another example she gave was a neighbour who lives at the top of Marsh Lane in Barton Hill, whose father lives near the bottom of Marsh Lane, on the other side of a planned bus gate. The bus gate will stop drivers from using the lane, with exceptions made for emergency services, rubbish trucks, carers, taxis and parents with children in special needs schools.
No buses actually use that route, but the council says there is a potential for a new route to connect Barton Hill to Temple Meads and the city centre, via the Feeder Road. Her neighbour’s elderly father is “not able to walk at all”, and relies on car lifts to get to the doctors’ surgery.
But the planned bus gate would mean instead driving a much longer route, through heavy traffic on main roads and residential areas too. Ms Sullivan said: “That bus gate is there for no purpose whatsoever. There’s no bus, there’s no traffic which needs to be held back for a bus.
“This guy will have to drive 2.3 miles back, 1.8 miles out. So that’s 4.1 miles, when all three bits are within 200 metres of each other. And this is somehow supposed to reduce traffic and pollution? That’s what all the residents up at the Beaufort Road end aren’t understanding.
“This is ludicrous, nonsensical, irrational and rage-inducing. There’s no way the residents are just going to let these bus gates go in.”
In October, contractors began installing the trial measures, but were “forced to pause the remaining measures”, according to the council, as protesters blocked them in some parts of the area. In a recent statement, a council spokesperson said: “We still intend to complete the trial scheme and are considering how we can proceed in a safe way.”
Ms Sullivan added: “We all hoped they were actually properly pausing, and would come and talk to us, to find out why the opposition is so fierce, what it is about the scheme that means the community can’t get on board. I don’t think they’ve really understood. There is not a traffic problem. We already have a liveable neighbourhood, it’s already fine. It’s not needed.”
Another supporter of the scheme is Adam Corner, who said Beaufort Road has become much safer. He urged the protesters to “at least give it a chance”.
He said: “It’s hard to describe how much of a positive difference the EBLN trial has made to the Beaufort Road area. I can now cycle my son to school safely, without frustrated drivers — on a cut-through that immediately becomes another traffic jam — accelerating towards us or driving on the pavement.
“I see a definite increase in other families cycling too, and each one of them is a short car journey off the road, which is the point of the liveable neighbourhood. The protesters blocking the trial have got to at least give it a chance to be installed and some time for other people who are able to — like the families who are now cycling to school — to switch their short journeys and reduce the number of car trips.”
The trial scheme was brought up again during a full council meeting on Tuesday, January 14. Melissa Topping is a disabled resident who lives on Victoria Avenue, and relies on using her large van to get around, which is especially fitted to carry her mobility scooter.
She said: “Elderly and disabled residents have been completely ignored. Three care homes have already been blocked in, along with Lincoln Gardens residential home, all against the wishes of residents. We urge you to reverse the travesty that has been pushed, and start again with the involvement of the community, designing a neighbourhood liveable for all.”
Last month, she also presented a petition signed by thousands of people, urging a halt to the trial. But the council is still planning to press ahead with the installation of the rest of the measures.
Responding to her questions, Green Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport policy committee, said: “We have engaged with various groups across the area with differing needs, including disabled people with a range of impairments. We also worked with the West of England Centre for Inclusive Living, to look at all transport plans at a formative stage.
“All engagement events have been fully transparent, there’s an engagement report available on the website, and an equalities impact assessment is also available on the website. We’re proposing to continue this. It’s the democratically decided decision of the city council to do this.
“There’s a lot of support for the scheme, and it’s only a trial. We will work with stakeholders to make sure that when the trial is completed after six months we can see what the best future plans will be.”